Starless Night
by musicalxchaos
Summary: An in-episode look at what was going on in the minds of the characters during the happenings of "So...Good Talk". 3 short chapters. Complete.
1. Emily

**A/N**: First off, I don't own anything. I just like to play. Secondly, this is a little in-episode piece from "So...Good Talk"...I know its a little late in being posted, but I was away, so...better late than never, right? The first two chapters are a bit short, but the last one is a little longer. This is my first multi-chapter piece, I usually do short one-shots (which is what these chapters are, more or less), and I know I'm posting them all at once, but let me know what you think :)

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Emily Gilmore felt like her world was crumbling around her. Her daughter would not speak to her, her granddaughter was being cold and distant, yelling at the dinner table, and both of them were getting along fine with her husband.

What had she done wrong? She was just looking at the Lorelai. She always wanted the best for her daughter. Lorelai might not always realize it, but she truly loved her, and was so proud of the life she had made for herself over the years. She deserved better than a simple man from Stars Hollow. More importantly, Emily was terrified that if Lorelai made her family in Stars Hollow, and was truly content there, she would find reasons to never come back and visit them in Hartford.

She didn't really want to lose her daughter. That was the farthest thing from her mind. And now her plan had backfired.

So here she was, sitting in her car on her way to Stars Hollow. She couldn't believe what she was about to do, but she felt it was her only option if she wanted Lorelai to come back to dinner, if she wanted Rory to have that glow about her again. The first step was to fix what she had apparently managed to break, as much as the idea killed her.

She knew that Lorelai was too stubborn to attempt to fix a relationship, no matter how important it was to her- and this man seemed to be terribly important. Luke seemed to match her very well in that respect. They needed a push. Well, Luke needed a push. Talking to Lorelai would do no good, and she knew that. He needed to know that _she _was out of the way and he didn't have to worry about her. She had treated him horribly, and if it had brought about a break up, he needed to know that he shouldn't have to worry about her anymore. She was bowing out, stepping back and letting things happen as they came, even though it killed her.

He needed to know how badly Lorelai still wanted him. Lorelai chose him over her own family. That had to mean something.

As she parked her car and walked across the street, she took a deep breath, put as much of a smile on her face as she could muster, and planned a speech in her head. She had to get this right. She **had** to fix things.

Emily Gilmore wanted her daughter and granddaughter back. Even if this man became part of the package.

The bells over the diner echoed quietly over the nearly empty diner as she entered…


	2. Lorelai

Lorelai smiled wistfully as she heard Rory pull out of the driveway and head back to Yale. She was happy for her daughter and her new – boyfriend? She guessed Logan was a boyfriend. At the same time, it made Lorelai feel the emptiness in her house a hundred times more. She remembered those evenings that she had that grin on her face as she rushed out of her house to meet Luke somewhere, glowing like Rory had been tonight. All that was gone now. She had been so lonely since their break up. It had been a month and it still hadn't gotten much easier to be without him.

Lorelai knew Sookie was right. She was turning into couch potato girl, a spinster, whatever. She was just sitting at home eating junk food and watching movies all day. But Rory was at Yale, and as amazing as her daughter had been, stopping by frequently to keep her company, calling all the time to be sure she was okay, it didn't help during those nights when she couldn't sleep, or when she found herself watching a sappy movie and crying inconsolably.

And then there was Emily. The nerve her mother had, doing what she had done. What could she have possibly been thinking, getting Chris to pull what he had pulled? And now pretending everything thing was fine, sending those postcards, all the phone calls? What was going on in her head? Aside from being incredibly angry, Lorelai was hurt. She wanted so much for her mother to be happy for her now that she'd found a relationship that worked for her, and instead, she sabotaged it and left Lorelai searching for answers.

So here she was, watching Judy Garland's _A Star Is Born_, feeling sorry for herself. She missed Luke so much. She'd never felt this way about a guy, never hurt so badly after being dumped. She missed talking to him, missed their banter, missed seeing him, kissing him, waking up next to him in the morning. Everything about him. He was such a huge part of her life, and now he was gone – her best friend, and the man she loved. God, life could be so cruel.

_The night is bitter__  
The stars have lost their glitter  
The winds grow colder  
Suddenly you're older  
And all because of the man that got away…._

Lorelai sighed_. This was probably not the best choice in movie_, she thought to herself as she continued to binge on the wide spread of junk food that lay in front of her.

And then there was a knock on the door.


	3. Luke

"You're going to have to clean that window."

And with that, Emily Gilmore was gone. Luke still couldn't wrap his mind around everything she had said, the pointed look on her face as she had walked out, the condescending tone that never left her voice. Only two things kept replaying in his head.

"She wants you Luke."

"Go back to her. I promise I will stay out of it."

Suddenly overcome with the need to sit down, Luke walked over to the door, flipped the sign to closed, growled at Kirk who still had his face plastered against the window, and walked up to his apartment, collapsing into the nearest chair, his head in his hands.

What the hell was going on?

He knew he was miserable without Lorelai. He hated what his life had become – he'd physically removed two people from the diner that afternoon, he was burning food left and right, and treating Lane like crap. No one deserved the treatment he was giving them, and he knew it. But his life had turned into a fog. He had barely slept since the break up – which he still couldn't process completely – and even when he had, he dreamed of her.

The play had been such an opportunity for them. He only agreed to help out knowing he'd see Lorelai. And then she wasn't for rehearsal, and he got frustrated, and snapped. He still couldn't believe he'd gone over there and yelled at her over the costumes and gotten into that fight over that and the boat. Hell who was he kidding? That fight was not about anything remotely related to the play, or the boat, and they both knew it. Emotions were running so high in that garage that day. Seeing the hurt in her eyes as she fought back the tears while they fought, then again during that damn song during the play almost killed him. He hated to see her hurting. He wanted so badly to say something to her that night. To take her in his arms, kiss her again, apologize, and make everything okay. Damn both of them for being so stubborn.

So here they were. Not speaking. Miserable – or at least he was – and her mother shows up with this. Telling him "he won"? Since when was Lorelai a prize? Luke was completely incapable of figuring out Emily Gilmore. He could tell by the tone in her voice that she was not completely sincere. But she had said it nonetheless. Emily Gilmore had come to his "rustic" diner to tell him to go back to Lorelai.

Oh God, did he want to.

But what was he supposed to tell Lorelai? "I came back because your mother came to see me." That would not go over well, and he knew it. At the same time, though, to hear from Emily that she was going to stop meddling, as unhappy as she was to say it, was pretty much the confirmation he needed. The little push he'd been looking for, something to convince him that they could work things out. What did he have to lose? He couldn't stand spending another night with out her. He had to at least try.

Before he even knew what he was doing, Luke was locking the diner and on his was to Lorelai's house. He had no idea what he was going to say, he wasn't ready for this at all. He only hoped something would come to him when he saw her.

When Lorelai answered the door, looking drawn and sleepless, all thought left his brain. She looked confused as he stepped toward her and took her in his arms, kissing her passionately for the first time in weeks.

God, he'd missed this.


End file.
